Publications that discuss this title
- Robinson, Kim Stanley (2005) Fifty Degrees Below. New York: Bantam
- Kingsolver, Barbara (2012) Flight Behavior. New York: HarperCollins
- Robinson, Kim Stanley (2004) Forty Signs of Rain. New York: Bantam
- Rich, Nathaniel (2013) Odds Against Tomorrow. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux
- Atwood, Margaret (2003) Oryx and Crake. New York: Nan. A. Talese / Doubleday / Random House
- Robinson, Kim Stanley (2007) Sixty Days and Counting. New York: Bantam
- McEwan, Ian (2010) Solar. New York: Nan A. Talese
- Crichton, Michael (2004) State of Fear. New York: HarperCollins
- Pendell, Dale (2010) The Great Bay. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books
- Atwood, Margaret (2009) The Year of the Flood. London et al: Bloomsbury
Abstract
Critical commentary of climate change fiction is often framed around its aesthetic
function (is it good literature?) and/or its didactic function (does it change behaviour
or attitudes?). We argue that an alternative approach instead might ask what fiction
can tell us about the psychology of public knowledge, fear and imagination about a
climate-changed future. In a review of the fictional literature we found that as climate
change has moved from a primarily scientific concern to being a broader political
and cultural issue, fictional representations have also moved from science fiction
out into a broader array of fictional sub-genres. In addition to loosely reflecting
contemporary science, fictional accounts are increasingly characterised by a sense
of hopelessness and a lack of faith in authorities. These fictional trends suggest
that while readers and writers are willing to explore and appraise the risk and severity
of climate change, there is little evidence of the coping appraisal which is, psychologically,
a necessary step in taking action to reduce risk.
